Inspiration
by Emony1
Summary: Ash needs a little inspiration every now and then. XanderAsh. Crossover with SPN.


Title: Inspiration  
Author: Emony  
Rating: FR15  
Characters/Pairings: Xander/Ash  
Disclaimer: All things SPN belong to Eric Kripke, et al. All things BtVS belong to Joss Whedon, et al.  
Team/Challenge: Team Roadhouse - #8 - self-gratification.  
Word Count: 1,654.  
Summary: Ash needs a little inspiration every now and then.  
Notes: Sequel to All Weather Girl.  
Warnings: Take a look at the pairing... this is slash. Nothing too explicit.

* * *

Ash sat at his desk, simultaneously working on three computers. He might make this stuff look easy, but it sure wasn't. There were weird things showing up all over the system he had set up for the Winchesters' and Dean had made noises about showing up at the Roadhouse sometime soon to get some news. 

A hand appeared by the side of his face, a plate of sandwiches in its grasp. The plate was dumped in the one clear spot, a bottle of beer next to it.

"Thanks." He said, grasping the hand to show his appreciation.

"No problem."

He heard the bedsprings protest as Xander rolled onto the bed. He heard papers rustle as Xander picked up the comic he'd been reading earlier. Grabbing the sandwich Ash got back to work.

* * *

Two hours later Ash stretched his arms out above him and cracked his neck.

"You okay?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. Fine."

"Sure." Xander got up, throwing down another comic, and left the room silently.

This would usually be the point where Ash would figure that things had come to an end and that was the last time he'd see Xander. With every other lover he'd had in his life they'd eventually hit the point where enough was enough and left.

Not so with Xander. Last time he'd mentioned it Xander had laughed and said it was the Scooby in him, he didn't know how to give up or let go.

Ash stretched again and got back to work.

* * *

Xander sat at the bar, drinking from the bottle Ellen had put in front of him the moment he'd appeared from the back rooms. Absently peeling at the bottle's label he thought back to the first time he'd met Ash. Buffy and a bunch of mini-slayers had brought him back from a tactics exercise in the park. For 'tactics exercise' read 'snowball fight'.

Xander had walked into the cosy 'parlour' of the Cleveland Council house to be greeted by the sight of Buffy, Willow, Giles, Andrew a dozen mini-slayers and a guy with funky hair all curled up telling stories and drinking hot cocoa like it was going out of style.

He had helped himself to Andrew's forgotten mug and watched from behind the young man's chair as the others listened to his dramatic retelling of the fall of Sunnydale.

After the laughter had subsided, Buffy noted his presence. She'd smiled brightly,

"Hey, Xan. This is my friend Ash, we... bumped into him while we were out in the park."

"Ash. Hey, good to meet you. The Buffster's mentioned you before, how'd you guys meet, again?" He'd asked, having never gotten the story from Buffy herself.

Their first meeting had been comforting and then like a glass of ice water.

Ash had stayed around for another week after that; Xander understood his reasoning these days, never get in the way of a Harvelle fight. In that week he and Ash had developed... something. It hadn't felt like any friendship he'd had before, maybe the closest to it being Jesse, maybe what he and Jesse would have felt like if Jesse had survived Sunnydale.

At the end of that week Xander had stood on the front steps of the Cleveland house, arm around Buffy's shoulders, waving off his new friend.

Promises to keep in touch already given, but not expected to be kept.

* * *

Xander was shaken out of his reverie as the door to the Roadhouse swung open loudly and Ellen's hands reached for the gun behind the bar. She heaved a sigh of relief at the giggling girls entering.

"Jo, Dawn. What are you girls up to now?"

"Nothing, Mom."

"Nothing, Ellen."

"Now, why don't I believe that?"

The girls smiled and turned their grins on Xander, both sweetly calling,

"Hi, Xander."

They waited for his blush; they had spent the last month torturing him, playing up the memories of both of their crushes on him. Thankfully, both girls were long over it and realised that they had no chance.

"Girls."

They each took a stool on either side of him and reached behind the bar for a glass, holding them out for Ellen to fill them with soda.

"So, Xan, whatcha doing?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah, and where's Ash?" Jo followed up.

"What does it look like I'm doing? And, Ash is still working on that thing with the... thing."

"Uh huh." They answered in unison.

"Why don't you go and give him a break." Dawn suggested, winking at the word 'break'.

"Yeah, the poor guy works so hard, why don't you go give him some downtime." Jo added, also winking at her suggestion.

Xander rolled his eyes at their antics; it baffled him that two teenage girls were so interested in the relationship of two guys. He chucked his bottle into the empties bucket behind the bar and headed out to the back.

* * *

Xander gently pushed Ash's door open, smiling at the sign on the door; that nickname had been the sign he and Buffy had waited a long time for, the sign that Willow liked Ash. Standing in the doorway he smiled as he watched Ash work, thinking back to the first time they became something more than just buddies.

He'd been on a road trip with Dawn, stopping in the Roadhouse every few weeks, usually missing Buffy only by days. This visit Dawn and Jo had been doing the boy gossip thing and Ellen had been busy tending bar.

Xander had slipped out to the back to see if Ash was up for some sensible guy stuff. He'd made the mistake of opening Ash's door without knocking.

Ash was lying naked on his bed, something he now knew as customary for the man when he was working on a problem. He had watched, unable to tear his eyes away, as Ash had worked on some good old fashioned self-gratification and then had had to stop himself from laughing out loud as, almost as soon as he'd finished, Ash jumped up and typed several commands into the nearest computer.

"Apparently orgasms are good for the mind too, who knew?" He said as he shut the door behind him.

"Uh huh, two minutes, Xander." Ash had muttered and carried on his typing. Finally hitting the enter button he'd swung around in his chair to face Xander.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"So, uh, you saw."

"I did." He had smiled, well, more of a smirk actually.

"And... you liked?" Ash had whispered, a hopeful look on his face.

"I did." He'd answered, having had the big gay freak out months back when the fifth male watcher in as many days had hit on him. Not that he'd told any of his friends that, because that's the way you did things as a Scooby, even after all these years.

Xander shook his head, clearing the memories with a smile,

"Ash."

"Hmm?"

"Ash, you need a break."

"Uh huh, two minutes, Xander." Just what he wanted to hear.

* * *

Dawn laughed at Jo's latest 'Dean's-the-biggest-idiot-in-the-world... and-I-have-the-biggest-crush-on-him-ever' story and tipped her head back to drink the dregs of her soda. As she slammed the glass back down on the bar the door swung open again, Ellen's hands going for the gun.

She watched as two of the hottest guys ever walked in, and she knew from hot guys. She noted her friend studiously not looking in their direction.

Ah, so these were the Winchesters.

"Ash in?" the short one grunted. The taller one nudged him with an elbow and turned puppy dog eyes on Ellen,

"Hey, Ellen. How's it going?"

"Sam, Dean. Not bad at all, Sam."

_That_ was Dean? Sure, he was hot, but she'd gotten over her bad boy phase with Spike. Maybe she could take care of Sam while Jo was busy with Dean.

"Good, good. Do you know if Ash is around?"

"See, you asked too, what was wrong with my question?"

"It was rude and it was barely a question."

"Whatever. Ellen, he in?" He asked again, already heading in the direction of the back rooms.

"He is." Dawn answered. Dean turned around, finally taking notice of the girl on the other side of Jo.

"And how might you know, missy?"

Dawn rolled her eyes.

"Maybe because I've been here for a week."

"Sure, whatever." He continued towards the back.

"You might want to knock." She didn't want this jerk kicking off at Xander and Ash; Ash was like a male Willow, well, if Wills had gone the computer way instead of the magic.

"Ok." He laughed.

"You might see more than you wanted too," Dawn added, at his look she continued, "unless that's what you want?"

In an attempt to laugh off her comment he replied,

"So, I'll walk in on a little self -gratification, ain't nothing I haven't seen before."

"Really," Jo asked, "you have a little thing for ga-" she was stopped by Dawn's hand over her mouth.

"Winchester."

Dean and Sam looked over at her.

"The short one, I know the big one has a brain. You listening to me?"

He narrowed his eyes but nodded anyway.

"You do or say anything you shouldn't you'll find out why the Summers name strikes more fear into the hearts of the bad guys than Winchester ever will."

Dean snorted.

"I'd listen to her, Dean." Ellen slid in, "That's her 'you're going to wake up on fire' face."

"Yeah, last time she used that we had to rebuild half the bar."

Laughter came from the back of the bar followed by a voice,

"You trying to scare the baby hunters again, Dawnie?"

"Me? No way, I'd never do something like that, Xan." She leaned back against the bar, smirking at Dean.

Xander headed towards them, nodding at the two men as he passed them,

"He'll be out in a few minutes guys, he just had a sudden burst of inspiration."

End fic.


End file.
